Combined skirted and bifurcated garment



Jan. 1, 1952 M. c. HELBIG COMBINED SKIRTED AND BIFURCATED GARMENT FildJuly 10, 1948 INVENTOR M71? r CfQ-"A 6/0, BY

Patented Jan. 1, 1952 COMBINED SKIRTED AND BIFURCATED GARMENT MaryCl'llclbig, Plainfield, Ind.

Application July 10', 1948, Serial No. 38,072

' 2 Claims; (01. 2-212) This invention relates to that type of womensgarment commonlylmown as shorts, and has for its object the provision ofshorts which will be novel and attractive in appearance and which can besimply andeconomically manufactured.

In carrying out the invention, the shorts are preferably formed ofseveral pieces of fabric sewn together to provide a body deeply notchedat its sides and having ends which can be brought togather to form thewaist. Tapes secured-tether ends of the body are adaptedto be tiedtogether to hold the garment on the wearer. On one an of the body, thematerial thereof continues out-'- wardly beyond the points at which theassociated tapes are secured to constitute skirt-forming portions, andthe ends of such skirt-forming portions are provided with means by whichthey can be secured together at the front of the wearer.

The accompanying drawing illustrates my invention: Fig. 1 illustratesthe shapes of four pieces of fabric which can be secured together toform the garment; Fig. 2 is a view of the garment formed by sewingtogether the four pieces of Fig. 1, the illustration being diagrammaticto the ex tent that it does not purport to show fullness; and Figs. 3and 4 are perspective views illustrating the garment as worn.

The garment illustrated in the drawings is conveniently formed of fourpieces of fabric cut generally to the respective shapes illustrated inFig. 1. These pieces comprise two pieces It which form the back of thegarment and two pieces I I which form the front of the garment. Each ofthe two pieces it is of a genera ly trape oidal shape with one cornercut away along a curved line I2. The two pieces H are generallytrapezoidal in shape and have one corner cut away along a curved lineI3, but are somewhat narrower than the pieces Ill. The longer of the twogenerally parallel edges of each piece, which longer edge is designatedas [a or Ila in Fig. 1 forms, in the finished garment, a portion of thebottom edge of such finished garment, while the opposite edges of thepieces, designated as b and I lb form the upper edge of the garment andembrace the wearers waist when the garment is worn. Each of the curvedlines 12 extends from the edge lllb to a point near the opposite edge10a, to leave a relatively short inner edge portion iflc generallyperpendicular to the edge Illa. The pieces II are similarly cut to leaveshort inner edge portions Hc generally perpendicular to the edges Ha.

The two pieces ID are sewed together along the lines It to form acomplete back for the garment, and the two pieces H are sewed togetheralong the lines [3 to form a complete front, for the garment. Tocomplete the garment, the edges I to of the pieces H are sewedrespectively to the edges [0c of the, pieces [0, all as indicateddiagrammatically in Fig. 2. In the garment as illustrated in Fig. 2,those portions thereof adjacent the seamed-together edges I00 and Hoform the crotch, while the alined edges [I b and the center portion ofthe alined edges lob are adapted to cooperate .to. form the waist of thegarment. Desirably, the edges [Db and H b are reinforced and finished bythe application of a fabric band l5 sewed in place.

The total length of the edges I01) and Ill) is considerably greater thanthe waist measure of the garment, the excess being represented by endportions of the edges IOb. To enable the garment to be secured inposition on the wearer, a pair of strings or tapes l6 are secured to theouter ends of the edges l lb, and a similar pair of strings or tapes I!are secured to the edges [0b at points spaced inwardly from the outercorners of those edges. When the garment is applied to the wearer, thetapes l6 and I? are tied together to secure the garment about thewearers waist. Those portions of the back l0-l0 lying outwardly beyondthe points of attachment of the tapes I! constitute skirt-formingportions [8 (Figs. 3 and 4) which can be drawn across in front of thewearer and secured in position as by means of a strap adapted to beattached to their upper corners by buttons 20.

The appearance of the finished garment can be varied by varying thelengths of the edges "la and I la, increasing the length of such edgesproviding an increased fullness for the skirtforming portions. Byaltering the length of the edges lflb, the gap between the ends of thoseedges when the skirt-forming portions l8 are secured together by thestrip l9 can be varied or eliminated entirely.

I claim as my invention:

1. A garment of the type described, comprising a back adapted to extenddownwardly from the wearer's waist, a front adapted to extend downwardlyfrom the wearers waist over the front of the wearer's body, each of saidback and front comprising a pair of similar fabric pieces each of whichhas a bottom edge, a top edge generally parallel to and shorter thansaid bottom edge, an outer edge joining the outer ends of said top andbottom edges, an inner edge shorter than said outer edge and joining theinner end of the bottom edge, and a concave edge joining the inner endof the top edge to the inner edge, the concave edges of the two fabricpieces constituting said front being secured together, the concave edgesof the two fabric pieces constituting the back being secured together.and the inner edges of the two fabric pieces constituting the frontbeing secured respectively to the inner edges of the two fabric piecesconstituting the back, releasable means for attaching the upper cornersof the front to the upper edges of the back at the sides of the wearer,the side portions of said back extending outwardly beyond the uppercorners of the front to form lateral skirtforming extensions adapted toextend forwardly from said releasable means and at least partiallyacross the front of the wearers body to overlap said garment-front, theupper edges of said extension being free and replaceable means forsecuring said extensions in position at the front of .the wearer.

2. A garment of the type described, comprising a back adapted to extenddownwardly from the wearer's waist, a front adapted to extend downwardlyfrom the wearer's waist over the front of the wearer's body, each ofsaid back and front comprising a pair of similar fabric pieces each ofwhich has a bottom edge, a top edge generally parallel to and shorterthan said bottom edge, an outer edge joining the outer ends of said topand bottom edges, an inner edge shorter than said outer edge and joiningthe inner end of the bottom edge, and a concave edge joining the innerend of the top edge to the inner edge, the concave edges of the twofabric pieces constituting said front being secured together, theconcave edges of the two fabric pieces constituting the back beingsecured together, and the inner edges of the two fabric piecesconstituting the front being secured respectively to the inner edges ofthe two fabric pieces constituting the back, releasable means forattaching the upper corners of the front to the upper edge of the backat the sides of the wearer, the side portions of said back extendingoutwardly beyond the upper corners of the front to form lateralskirt-forming extensions adapted to extend forwardly from saidreleasable means and at least partially across the front of the wearersbody to overlap said garment-front, the upper edges of said extensionsbeing free, and a strap for interconnecting the upper ends of saidextensions at the front of the wearer.

MARY C. HELBIG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,966,060 Cohen July 10, 19342,412,502 Garrison Dec. 10, 1946 2,453,051 Vacca Nov. 2, 1948

